East Caucasian Tur 245 



Length along Basal 



Front Curve. 



„. r Tip to Tip. 



Circumrerence. '^ ^ 



3H 14 ^ ? 



34i i°f i3i 



33f 12 19I 



31 II 28 



29^ 12 20 



28I II i6i 



26^ lof 18 



22i lof 19! 



20:i 10 11^ 



Distribution. — The Eastern Caucasus, from Daghestan to Kasbeg. 



Habits. — Few English sportsmen have followed this tur in its native 

 haunts, and accounts of its habits are therefore scant and imperfect. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. C. Phillipps-WoUey, who has given some brief notes on it in the 

 Badminton Library^ this tur inhabits the higher mountain crags in situations 

 where either large springs of iron-impregnated water, or "licks" of the 

 same occur. To such springs or licks the tur, if possible, descend at least 

 once during the twenty-four hours, and it is then that so many of them fall 

 victims to the concealed watcher. At least during the summer months, 

 from the beginning of June till the end of August, the tur during the day- 

 time keep to the bare crags well above the snow-line, free from attack by 

 either man or insects, and in a situation where the sun's rays do not strike 

 with the force they exert in the valleys below. With the approach of night 

 the rattling of stones from the moraines of the glacier proclaims to the hunter 

 that the tur are descending to feed upon the patches of upland pasture ; 

 their presence in the gathering gloom being revealed by the shrill bleat 

 from which they gain their local name of djik-vi. According, however, 

 to native reports, it is only the younger rams and ewes, which associate in 

 large herds, that come down to the licks and pastures during the summer, 

 the old rams keeping themselves apart, and living entirely above the snow- 

 line among almost inaccessible fastnesses. It is there that the sportsman 

 must penetrate if he desire to bag trophies worthy of his reputation during 



